Kozera, who had a brief romance with the cult author in the late 1940s, only learned that she was the inspiration for Terry, the Mexican girl in Kerouac's most famous book On The Road three years ago.

She met the author on a Greyhound bus leaving Bakersfield, California in 1947.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Kozera, who was Bea Franco when she fell for Kerouac, is mentioned several times in Kerouac biographies, but no one knew exactly who the mystery muse was until writer Tim Hernandez tracked her down in Fresno.